The Illinois College Fine Arts Series is pleased to announce its 2013–2014 concert season, Words and Music. This year’s series will explore the relationship between text and sound and will feature a variety of performances ranging from jazz singer Debby Lennon to the improve comedy of The Improvised Shakespeare Company to the Arianna String Quartet performing Haydn’s, The Seven Last Words of Christ. Call 217.245.3069 or email fas@ic.edu for additional information.

Season tickets are on sale now.

Debbie Lennon
Saturday, September 14, 2013
Vocal Workshop | 3 p.m. Rammelkamp Chapel | FREE
Concert | 7:30 p.m. | Sibert Theatre
Jazz singer Debby Lennon, a longtime member of the St. Louis Symphony Chorus has been called “brassily irresistible” by The Boston Globe and has been a featured soloist with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, The New York City Gay Men’s Chorus, The New Music Circle and many other distinguished groups throughout her illustrious career. Accompanied by a quartet that includes the Carolbeth True Jazz Trio of St. Louis’ finest jazz musicians, Lennon’s voice will entertain the Fine Arts Series audience with an evening of standards and jazzy melodies from her solo album, I’m all Smiles.

William J. Ross
Friday, October 25, 2013
Concert | 7:30 p.m. Rammelkamp Chapel
Active as composer, conductor, performer and teacher, William J. Ross has won prizes both for his compositions and his organ playing, and has been listed in Who’s Who in American Classical Music since 1981. His works have been published by several publishers. His major teachers in organ were Donald Willing, Vernon De Tar and Marilyn Mason. Ross Lee Finney and Leslie Bassett at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and Karl Korte and Joseph Schwantner at the University of Texas were his major teachers in composition. Ross has taught music composition, organ and music history at St. Mary’s University and the University of Texas at San Antonio. He is presently organist of Christ Lutheran Church Alamo Heights in San Antonio, Texas.

The Improvised Shakespeare Company
Saturday, November 16, 2013
Concert | 7:30 p.m. | Sibert Theatre
Based on one audience suggestion (a title for a play that has yet to be written) The Improvised Shakespeare Company creates a fully improvised play in Elizabethan style. Each of the players has brushed up on his “thees” and “thous” to bring you an evening of off-the-cuff comedy using the language and themes of William Shakespeare. Any hour could be filled with power struggles, star-crossed lovers, sprites, kings, queens, princesses, sword-play, rhyming couplets, asides, insults, persons in disguise and all that we’ve come to expect from the pen of the Great Bard. The night could reveal a tragedy, comedy or history. Nothing is planned-out, rehearsed or written. Each play is completely improvised, so each play is entirely new!

Nordic Choir
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Concert | 7:30 p.m. Rammelkamp Chapel
The 74-member Nordic Choir has an international reputation as one of the premier collegiate choirs in the U.S. The choir is conducted by Allen Hightower, director of choral activities and professor of music at Luther College. The Nordic Choir tours annually and has performed around the world, appearing in Norway, Ireland, England, Germany, Russia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, the Baltic countries, Mexico and the Caribbean. The choir regularly performs nationally in well-known venues such as Lincoln Center in New York City and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

The Baltimore Consort
Sunday, March 16, 2014
Concert | 3 p.m. Rammelkamp Chapel
Founded in 1980 to perform the instrumental music of Shakespeare’s time, the Baltimore Consort has explored early English, Scottish and French popular music, focusing on the relationship between folk and art song and dance. Their interest in early music of English/Scottish heritage has also led them to delve into the rich trove of traditional music preserved in North America. Recordings on the Dorian label have earned them recognition as Top Classical-Crossover Artist of the Year (Billboard), as well as rave reviews elsewhere. Besides touring in the U.S. and abroad, they often perform on such syndicated radio broadcasts as St. Paul Sunday, Performance Today, Harmonia and the CBC’s OnStage.

Arianna String Quartet
Saturday, April 12, 2014
Concert | 7:30 p.m. Rammelkamp Chapel
Hailed for their outstanding musicianship, the Arianna String Quartet has firmly established itself as one of America’s finest chamber ensembles. Their performances have been praised for “tonal warmth, fastidious balance ... expressive vitality” (Chicago Tribune) and “emotional commitment and fluent virtuosity,” (Pretoria News, South Africa). Formed in 1992, the ASQ garnered national attention by winning the grand prize in the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, first prize in both the Coleman and Carmel Chamber Music Competitions, and were laureates in the Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition.

Season tickets for the 2013-2014 Illinois College Fine Arts Series are $60 and include admission to all six performances. Individual concert tickets cost $15. The concert series offers free admission to students of all ages, regardless of where they attend school.

Contact the Office of Development and Alumni Relations at 217.245.3069 or fas@ic.edu for complete ticket information. Greater detail about each performance is available at www.ic.edu/fas.

About Illinois College

Founded in 1829, Illinois College is a residential liberal arts college fostering academic excellence rooted in opportunities for experiential learning while preparing students for lifelong success. The college is located in Jacksonville, Ill. With an enrollment of more than 1,000 students, the college offers over 50 undergraduate programs and a Master of Arts in Education degree program. In 1932 the society of Phi Beta Kappa established a chapter at Illinois College, and it remains one of only 11 in the state.

Illinois College is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association. Visit www.ic.edu or call 217-245-3149 for more information.